Improve support for configuration metadata clients without classpath access

[OLibutzki]

In our Spring Boot application we have serveral custom configuration properties. As some configuration properties are mantained by domain experts, it's not feasible to give them a text file (properties or yaml) to configure the application.

Therefore we plan to provide a graphical configuration tool which contains uses the Configuration metadata to render certain controls, so users are able to configure the application using a graphical user interface.

The Configuration Metadata Spring Boot provides is a very good starting point, but unfortunately there is certain information missing due to the fact that you don't consider them to be needed in the metadata file. As stated in #7562 (comment) by @snicoll the list of enum literals is not included as this can be extracted by the IDE. Unfortunately, in our scenario we don't have an IDE or access to the classpath.

Therefore it would be very helpful to have as many information available in the metadata file as possible to provide the best user experience in our configuration client.

[philwebb]

It looks like #7562 is still open so if it's just enum support then I think this issue could be closed as a duplicate.

@OLibutzki Are there other things you're looking for in the metadata files that aren't currently there?

[spring-projects-issues]

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[OLibutzki]

It looks like #7562 is still open so if it's just enum support then I think this issue could be closed as a duplicate.

@OLibutzki Are there other things you're looking for in the metadata files that aren't currently there?

In #7562 @snicoll accidently thought it is about the enum literals, but the issue is about the enum's default value.

At the moment I am not sure, if there is more information that is derived from the classpath. I created this issue to point you to the fact that there are scenarios in which you want to use the configuration metadata without classpath access.